Rites of Battle: The Blades of Sanguinius

I don't play pen and paper RPGs. I don't have the knack for roleplaying, I come over all self-conscious. However, I find roleplay manuals to be fantastic sources of inspiration, especially the ones for Fantasy Flight Games' Warhammer 40,000 RPGs. Rites Of Battle, for instance, has a wonderful system for creating your own Space Marine chapter.

The following was written using the headings and questions in Rites Of Battle, filling in the details I'd already decided and picking off the menu when I didn't have an answer. Later I'll write this up in a more narrative form, probably as an old-style Index Astartes article, but for now it's just the facts, ma'am.

Chapter Name

The Blades of Sanguinius.

Trials of the Aspirant

Given the options I've decided the chapter tests its aspirants using a mixture of the Exposure Trial and the Knowledge Of Self. The exposure trial takes the form of a trek through a forbidden region of their home world that is supposedly home to the Chapter's fortress-monastery. This is a lie. The chapter is based on a warp-capable star fortress in orbit of their home world and monitors the progress of aspirants from afar, both through technological means and deploying of Battle-Brothers in scout armour.

Those aspirants who survive the forbidden zone's many dangers (ravenous predators, poisonous fauna, the usual...) and show sufficient fortitude in their observer's sole estimation are rescued at the point of near-death and brought to the fortress-monastery. Once aboard the star fort the aspirant is treated for whatever symptoms of exposure and such they are suffering but are kept sedated. In this state they are brought before the chapter's Librarians for the final test. The Librarians induce a dream state within the aspirant with which to test their worth. The nature of the dream depends on the mental qualities of both Librarian and aspirant and may be different every time. Few ever speak of their experiences in the dream state and the Librarian's word on the aspirant's worth is final: to be inducted into the chapter, returned to their home or executed on the spot is entirely up to them.

ORIGINS

When was the Chapter founded?

The chapter was founded in early M38 as part of the 23^rd or “Sentinel” Founding because I like the name. I like the foundings with names and that's the only one I know other than the Dark and Cursed Foundings, neither of which particularly attract me because you have to make the chapter massively flawed for the Cursed Founding and I rather like the Exorcists being the last survivors of the Dark Founding.

Why was the Chapter formed?

Given the name of the Founding I'm going to say the chapter was intended as a Standing Force guarding the Imperium's borders from outside attack. As a standing force they have a certain area of responsibility within which they are required to maintain the Emperor's rule, though their deployment can take them far across the galaxy.

GENE-SEED

How pure is the Chapter's gene-seed?

Let's just go with the standard Sanguinary flaws, the Black Rage and the Red Thirst, with just the usual level of degeneration later founding Blood Angels chapters tend towards. So, more Blades fall to the Rage and they feel the Thirst a bit more strongly than the Blood Angels but they aren't all frothing nutters like the Flesh Tearers or actively craving blood at all time like the Blood Drinkers or Flesh Eaters.

Codex Demeanour

There are a series of these Demeanours in Rites Of Battle and I wasn't going to pick one but I gave them a look and this one really called to me:

Swift As The Wind

The Battle-Brothers of the Chapter may excel at rapid strikes and lightning raids, but the trait extends to every facet of their character. They are as quick to anger as they are to jest. They can be impatient, yet display great personal initiative. Whilst not rash or foolhardy, such a Battle-Brother believes in the value of immediate action over protracted planning, and chafes at the bit to engage the foe.

I love the bit about being quick to anger and jest. I want funny Space Marines.

HOME WORLD

What type of planet if the chapter's home world?

The Blades' home world, which I've decided to call Tsubasa Minoris (Japanese for “wing”), is a planet whose society is about the social and technological level of the Renaissance.

Home world predominant terrain

I have this mental image of huge mountain ranges across the whole planet with vertical cities built up the sides. The different mountain states are in a state of perpetual warfare, exactly the sort of social condition favoured for Space Marine recruitment. Naturally, any attempt to make a lasting peace are thwarted by Scouts from the Blades of Sanguinius with sniper rifles.

Relationship with home world

Aside from the assassinations mentioned above and whatever else is needed to keep the eternal wars of Tsubasa Minoris going, I've decided the chapter maintains a “Stewardship” level of control. By and large the mountain cities are ruled by their own kings, prime ministers and diverse other lords. Each of these rulers acts as a client king to the Chapter-Master, who holds the title and rights of Imperial Governor. Usually there won't be much contact between the chapter and the local lords except for states of planetary emergency and demanding the lords send recruitment candidates to the forbidden zone.

ORGANISATION

How closely does the chapter follow the codex?

Again, the standard Blood Angels divergences: the extra Assault Company, the Sanguinary Guard and Priesthood, the Death Company and unique wargear items. Otherwise they're very much a Codex chapter. I'll probably come up with funky names for individual companies and such but it's just the standard ten company system.

Combat Doctrine

Combined arms with a bias towards close combat. I don't tend to like “specialist” chapters, I think a Space Marine is a Space Marine and they should have the clear damned common sense to train as generalists able to handle any situation. They are Sanguinary, though, so combat and aerial assault are going to highly favoured.

Also I have an idea, given the chapter name, that sergeants and officers will favour power swords over other specialist melee weapons.

Speciality Restrictions

The book gives a list of roles (Apothecary, Techmarine, Assault Marines, Devastators and Librarians) and pick one that the chapter doesn't use. Another option offered is to “pick something truly unusual”, so let's pick something unusual as none of the other options really inspires me...

Given the terrain of their home world the chapter tends to favour Land Speeders and Stormravens for vehicular support. They do maintain an armoured vehicle pool as any chapter would but in small numbers than would be standard.

Beliefs

The chapter, as was common in the background when I started playing but isn't as common now, reveres the Emperor as their creator but not as a literal god. They also venerate the memory of Sanguinius as the sacrifice that secured the future of the Imperium they serve.

Current Status

Nominal. A full chapter of ten almost full strength companies. Their tendency towards lightning hit-and-run engagements lessens the usually high level of attrition Sanguinary chapters tend towards.

Friends and Enemies

Friends: the chapter has strong ties to the local Mechanicus forge worlds because I want to have some Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus detachments in the army. I also prefer the more bellicose, honour culture view of Skitarii from Graham McNeill's novels to the emotionless cyborgs their codex prefers and I think those sorts of Skitarii would get on well with the Blades as I envision them.

Enemies: Like all Blood Angels successors, the Blades have a fraught and cautious relationship with the Inquisition. I'm not sure if the Blades have done anything major to deserve it or if it's just their attitude of edgy caution that have made the Holy Ordos suspicious.

Naturally, I intend to have my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, his retinue and his Deathwatch Kill-Team teaming up with the chapter for all sorts of happy fun.

Battle Cry

“Blood! Fire! Steel!” chanted in unison as the chapter advances, blared out of helmet and vehicle-mounted vox-casters at maximum volume to terrify the enemy.

Heraldry

The chapter symbol will be a sword, downthrust or, to put it another way, the shoulder pad from the Dark Angels Veteran Squad of which I have ample spares.

Livery

I'm not sure, except that there'll be a lot of red and, I think, some steel to make them look more knightly. I'll have to be careful not to just copy the Knights Of Blood colour scheme. Perhaps through the use of some gold elements and making sure the body is a solid red?

Okay: red torso and shoulder pads; silver arms and legs, gold aquila and pauldron trim unless I think of something better when I come to start painting. Death Company and Sanguinary Guard in their usual colour schemes.

Tomorrow: tying it all together. 

Hobby Diary #1

The last few weeks I've been getting back into gaming. The whole End Times and Age Of Sigmar mess sapped my enthusiasm but now I'm having fun again with my Lizardmen taking on all comers. Last night I was packing up my Lizards for a game later today and the army, to be frank, is a mess of bare and half-painted plastic and I came to a realisation:

I don't need to paint this, I want to. I'm having fun and I want to present my opponents with a nice visual as one of us stomps the other into the ground.

I want my lumbering behemoth of a Bastiladon to look cool. It has only once lived beyond Turn Two because everyone is afraid of it but I think the model looks fantastic but half-painted it just looks average. I want Matt to not just fear my Saurus Cavalry (and he really does) but to appreciate them. I really want to make my Skink Priest's Cloak Of Feathers as insanely technicolour as possible.

So, yes, pushing on this now.

On the 40k side of the street I'm resurrecting my Blood Angels army, the Blades Of Sanguinius. I've bought a plastic Librarian and a Blood Angels Tactical Squad. The Librarian went together like a dream but the new bolter assembly on the Tactical Marines is hell on toast.

They had this cracked! Dark Angels Veterans and Death Company have the bolter already attached to one arm, it worked fantastically. It was the solution we had all been waiting for. 

On creating your own Space Marine chapter

You know, as much as I don't like them popping up in Fantasy, there's nothing wrong with Space Marines. They're a great idea and creating your own chapter is one of the great pleasures of this hobby.

Over the course of the group's recent campaign I've been rediscovering my joy in writing background and inventing characters, in having them be defined by their victories and failures on the tabletop as much as my pre-determined ideas. Right now my Orks' primary Warlord has been knocked out for a couple of games and his second-in-command has been having great success in his absence. I smell a power struggle coming (as well as lots of barbecued Tau following my most recent game).

Anyway, I really fancy revisiting one of my own brand Space Marine chapters, but with a twist.

Once upon a time when I was nineteen I had an army called The Blades of Sanguinius. They were Chaos Space Marines dedicated to Tzeentch, the daemonic Changer of Ways who had cured them of their Flaw in exchange for service eternal. They were, essentially, little more than muscle employed by my Lost And The Damned when I had a particularly tough opponent. In time I got better at the game and moved on from needing the crutch of Astartes to prop up my LatD army.

So, the Blades of Sanguinius died, cut down by forces still loyal to the God-Emperor of Mankind.

Tzeentch, however, is ever-ready to snatch a continuation from the jaws of an ending. The contracts of Tzeentch are binding in both directions: the future and the past.

It is now a decade later and centuries since the Blades fell to Chaos. Across the Imperium records of their victories, their honours and their very existence have been incinerated to hide the terrible truth from the citizenry that Man's greatest champions can fall from the Emperor's Grace.

In the present of the group's 40k timeline, 012.M42, a fleet will emerge from the Warp that set out centuries ago to fight a war long over. The Blades of Sanguinius, true and loyal scions of the Ninth Legion, have returned. Cut off from their homeworld, set adrift in a galaxy that has alternately forgotten them or pledged to exterminate them, the time has come to explore who they were before I invented them.

It's timey-wimey but this is Tzeentch we're talking about (and, hey, I can experiment with Daemonology if I feel like it. Love me some Tzeentch Daemons).

In truth, I have to admit I was no real fan of the Blood Angels background when I first came up with these guys. I just picked that particular lineage because it gave me a simple reason for the chapter to fall. Since then I've really fallen for the whole angle of noble warriors cursed by a thirst for blood and an unquenchable rage that will inevitably consume them. Getting a chance to explore those concepts, which I criminally ignored in my youth, will be really fun especially as it'll almost be like creating the chapter as new. I didn't really give much thought to who they were before they became Chaos Marines.

Now I get to find out. First step: write an Index Astartes article for them. I loved the old Index Astartes books, they were my introduction to the hobby and the artwork for the Black Templars article was what convinced me I wanted to collect an army. Once that's done I'll see about getting some models together. 

GW Reading "Create a Space Marine Chapter" competition

Games Workshop Reading's store birthday is coming up on 1^st November and they're running a few events on the day, one of which is the good old Create A Space Marine Chapter competition. Simple idea: come up with a colour scheme, paint a Marine, write up a bit of background and present all it on the day. I'm not normally one for in-store competitions and the like but it occurred to me that this one could serve a nice little purpose for me.

You see, back in Third Edition when I started in the hobby I had a Chaos Space Marine army, a fallen Sanguinary chapter called the Blades Of Sanguinius. They looked, I will be frank, bloody terrible because I was nineteen, had no idea how to paint and had no patience. They wore pale red armour (Blood Red right over white undercoat, oh the days before base paints...) with Midnight Blue trim and not much else. They were technically Tzeentchian except I couldn't afford the metal models for the daemons and back then you couldn't give generic Chaos Marines the Mark of Tzeentch because it automatically turned them into Thousand Sons.

You know, every time I discuss the Third Edition Chaos Marine book I end up wondering why I have such immense nostalgia for it. I remember Chaos Lieutenants fondly, I liked that the rules actually allowed you to give your Chaos Lord a greasy sidekick.

Anyway, the thing with the Blades Of Sanguinius is I never really gave any thought to what they looked like as loyalists (except that they were red, being a Sanguinary chapter) so that's my pitch: design and enter the loyal Blades. I've got a good starting point in that they'll be mostly red, probably, and I've plenty of Death Company bits to make the model visually interesting. I just have to be careful not to make the colour scheme over-busy, which is the temptation and the trap of these things.